Monday, January 27, 2014

The Sun's magnetic field shift

One reader's comment on the "Learn something new every day" post (see below) asked if the magnetic field on the Sun had shifted yet. I went to the NASA site, and the most recent article on the subject was written on December 6 and is titled "The Sun's Magnetic Field Is About to Shift."

One of the quotes at the beginning of the article states, "It looks like we're no more than three to four months away from a complete field reversal."

So, it appears the Sun has not yet completed the shift -- although it's halfway done. The north pole has already shifted, and the old south pole is a bit behind.

This article is actually a very good one, and explains a bit more about the "current sheet" that we passed through last week. Here's another quote about that phenomenon:

"During field reversals, the current sheet becomes very wavy. As Earth orbits the sun, we dip in and out of the current sheet. Transitions from one side to another can stir up stormy space weather around our planet."

Here's an artist's concept of the current sheet, that's included in the article:

It starts to make sense how, as the Earth passes through folds of the sheet, we can experience emotional, mental and physical fluctuations. I still haven't found an article that tells how often we will be passing through the folds -- if anyone else finds one, please let me know!